Designer Kiana Anvaripour graduated from St. Mary's Academy in 1999 and after a stint in London interning for several high-end designers, she found her way to Los Angeles and soon launched her own dress line, dMondaine.

The 31-year-old who grew up in Lake Oswego and now lives in Santa Monica, Calif., had crafted an undergarment that smoothed out problem areas without flattening women's curves.

"We have a classic silhouette that will always make a woman's body look good," said Anvaripour, adding that she's always been inspired by the old Hollywood glamour and actresses including Marilyn Monroe and Elizabeth Taylor. Still she said of her ResultWear line, "you're not wearing a grandma girdle.

While Sarah Blakely's Spanx helped make bodyshaping gear cool, the trouble-spot smoothing undergarments aren't exactly sexy. Anvaripour's line is and that's exactly what a mentor pointed out as Anvaripour waffled between moving forward with ResultWear or going back to her gowns.

"I really was trying to put beauty into something underneath," she said of her pieces that are presentable enough to double as a shirt for layering.

As her company's tagline goes, "You don't have to turn off the lights when the clothes come off."

Anvaripour had always wanted to be a designer and would take art classes at Portland State University at night after days in school at St. Mary's. She was inspired by her grandmother and aunt, both of whom designed and sewed their own clothes through the years. In fact, her grandmother sewed Anvaripour's prom dress. Indeed, she credits the women in her family with supporting the decisions she made after graduating from the Otis College of Art and Design in Los Angeles, from working awhile in New York and to jumping at an opportunity to intern for a group of high-end designers in London.

Kiana Anvaripour dreamed of being a designer. When she was young, after a day of school at St. Mary's Academy, she'd head over to Portland State University for art classes. ResultWear

After deciding on her lingerie line, Anvaripour quickly found space for her products on the shelves of a few small boutiques in Los Angeles, New York and Oh Baby in downtown Portland. But she wanted a bigger retailer on her shop list and began calling Neiman-Marcus every day. Anvaripour became friends with the luxury department-store chain's buyer there who was nice, but discouraging.

"She'd say, 'I'm done buying, you're wasting your time,'" said Anvaripour, who took it one step further and made the trip to Dallas, Texas, promising to take up only five minutes of her day.

Anvaripour now has 10 different pieces on the racks in her virtual store and a network of other retailers nationwide. She dreams of weaving her ResultWear concept into designs for ready-to-wear clothing and swimwear.

"My goal is to incorporate it into everything that will make women feel beautiful and comfortable in their bodies," said Anvaripour, who slices up her time serving as her company's designer, president, saleswoman and trainer. Two weeks ago, she was in Orlando at a number of boutiques for trunk shows that she said allowed her to help customers see how her products can make their clothing look better.

She'll be doing the same in Portland next week, at the Spin Boutique (440 First St., Lake Oswego) from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m., on Thursday, Nov. 8; and at Oh Baby Lingerie (722 N.W. 23rd Ave., Portland) from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 9.